Expats share the joy of Ramadhan away from home

Expats share the joy of Ramadhan away from home

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): "With growing commerce came new sets of values
and concerns ... As values changed and the gap between the rich
and poor widened, resentment among the less fortunate began to
intensify. It was an uneasy world .... "

This could very well be a description of our world on the eve
of the new millennium, except that Mathew S. Gordon, a scholar of
Middle Eastern studies at Columbia University, is talking about
the world into which Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D.

As Ramadhan, Islam's holy month of fasting and prayer, slips
into its third week and the planet's one billion Muslims prepare
to celebrate Idul Fitri, the festivities that follow the fasting
month, the question remains as to where this great mass of
humanity is headed in 2000.

Often it seems that little of what the prophet so
painstakingly tried to teach is practiced, as people continue to
hurt each other either over religion, politics or commerce.
Talking to Muslims from around the world who live in the
Indonesian capital, The Jakarta Post discovered that many feel
the last 1,400 years since the birth of Muhammad in the heart of
the Arabian desert may well have been a mirage, since little
seems to have changed.

They wonder why it is so difficult to emulate Muhammad,
Islam's very first believer and a modest merchant who meditated
centuries ago in the darkness of a cave in a vast and barren
desert, winning over hearts through his inspired utterances and
above all by his personal example.

After all, the teachings of Islam are simple enough and clear
in that there is only one God, or Allah, and the last in a long
line of prophets is Muhammad. However, Islam has grown into
something more than just a major world religion since Muhammad's
first visions from Allah. Today it is also a powerful legal,
social, economic and cultural force, and a complex and mighty
influence that spreads from the Atlantic coast of North Africa to
China and India.

According to John Dunn, an author in Lucent's World History
Series, no other religion has ever encompassed a greater mixture
of ethnic, racial and linguistic types than Islam. Even Rome at
its pinnacle paled in comparison to the range of Muslim
authority.

Englishman Sir Richard Burton passed himself off as a Muslim
to make a secret journey to Mecca in 1855, leaving behind a
first-person account of the diverse mass of humanity that flowed
into the city one moonlit night. "The oval pavement around the
Kaaba was crowded with men, women, and children ... What a scene
of contrasts! Here stalked the Badawi woman ... There an Indian
woman ... A few fair-skinned Turks lounged about ... In another,
some poor wretch, with arms thrown on high, so that every part of
his person might touch the Kaaba was clinging to the curtain and
sobbing as though his heart would break."

While it is true that the birthplace of Islam is the Arabian
Peninsula and that the holy text of the Koran is in the Arabic
language, today Arabs are but one in a variety of people who
practice the religion.

In fact most Muslims are not Arabs, they do not speak Arabic
and the great majority live outside of the Middle East and North
Africa.

"I am on medication and therefore not fasting. But whenever I
do, I feel like a different person. I find that Ramadhan is a
wonderful exercise in self-control, patience and the joy of
sharing," said Nasima Haider, counselor and deputy chief of
mission at the Bangladesh Embassy here.

Although the majority of people in Bangladesh are Muslims, the
country is a secular state that is tolerant of non-Islamic
religions.

Siam, Nasima's colleague at the embassy, said the Idul Fitri
celebration in Dacca was a lively event that carried on for three
nights and days. "It's like after having practiced self-control
and patience for a whole month, one lets oneself go on Idul
Fitri. We pray together, eat together and visit people we have
not seen in many months. To me Ramadhan is like preparing myself
and my soul to face the rest of the year with as much goodness as
is possible."

Both Siam and Nasima wish they could return home for the
festivities, when shops are open all night and roadside vendors
sell the most delicious chickpea dishes made anywhere in the
world, according to the pair.

Many Muslim societies today seem chaotic and confused, but
individual believers continue to make an effort to do as Allah
wills. Despite the physical demands of fasting, there is much
rejoicing during Ramadhan, which celebrates Muhammad's receiving
of the Koran in 610 A.D.

On Idul fitri, or the feast to end the fast, Muslims gather
with family and friends for long meals, the sharing of gifts and
religious devotions. In many countries it is a national holiday,
and many people who are abroad for work or study travel home to
be with their families.

Omar Hilale, the Moroccan ambassador, will not return home but
finds the celebration of Idul fitri so similar here that he is
happy to be in Jakarta. "Our practice of Islam is similar to the
moderate, tolerant ways practiced here and we too feel obliged to
respect all decent human beings irrespective of the faith they
follow," said Hilale, adding it is only God who can decide
whether a person is right or wrong, not mere human beings like
us.

He said that if he was celebrating Idul Fitri in Morocco, he
would visit the graves of his family after morning prayer at the
mosque. This is a tradition which serves as a reminder to the
living that a similar fate awaits them, so they must correct
their behavior while there is still time.

Hilale also said a favorite dish cooked for the lavish Idul
Fitri lunch includes a fish cocktail called pastilla. Then there
is the shish kebab, and milk and fruit drinks, along with a
variety of sweets that are served to a constant flow of guests.

Children have the most fun at Idul Fitri, when in many parts
of the world they are given new clothes, presents and money.
Children seek out as many adults as possible and are extremely
polite and respectful toward them in anticipation of money and
presents.

Salma Hussain, an Indian Muslim visiting Jakarta, tries to
read the entire Koran during Ramadhan and celebrates Idul Fitri
in a gesture of thanksgiving to God for all he has provided her
in this life.

Talaat Lotfy, head of information at the Egyptian Embassy,
asked to be posted in Jakarta for a second time because he feels
at home here. "No doors are closed to me in Indonesia and I enjoy
celebrating Idul Fitri here," he said, extending the Post an
invitation to share with him konafa and kataif cakes made from
honey and flour.

Khalid Shebli, a counselor at the Iraq Embassy, is unable to
put into words the joy that consumes him during the month of
Ramadhan.

"Something is different. I feel closer to God. It is a
sensation I do not feel at any other time during the year," he
said, and in the spirit of sharing invited the Post to share some
gemar, a thick dollop of cream served with honey and nuts, and
delicious cakes made from flour and dates.